Betty Williams
Elizabeth "Betty" Williams (née Preston, previously Turpin) is a long-serving barmaid at the Rovers Return Inn in Coronation Street, having starting work at the pub in 1969 and continuing to work there today. Betty was close to her sister Maggie Clegg. Prior to her marriage to policeman Cyril Turpin, Betty had an affair with sailor Ted Farrell and fell pregnant without Ted's knowledge. Maggie and her husband Les raised Betty's son Gordon as their own, with Gordon not learning the truth about his parentage until 1975. When she first arrived in Coronation Street in 1969, Betty got a job as a barmaid at the Rovers and was a regular fixture in the Street along with her husband Cyril, as well as Maggie, who owned the Corner Shop. At the Rovers, Betty and Bet Lynch worked under the rule of snobbish Annie Walker. Despite Annie's highly-strung ways, she was good friends with Betty. In 1974 Betty was left alone as Cyril died of a heart attack and Maggie moved to Zaire. Betty eventually remarried in 1995 when she met up with old flame Billy Williams. Since Billy's death in 1997, Betty has continued to work at the Rovers, a familiar face through the succession of landlords and licensees. Her hotpot is particularly popular with the regulars and is always in demand. Biography Overview Betty Turpin has been a barmaid and lynchpin at the Rovers Return Inn since June 1969, although she has mellowed in recent years and is now, like the actress who plays her, in her nineties (both in fact 91). Although she has never suffered fools gladly, and has always had a keen ear for gossip. Anyone crosses Betty at their own peril. Betty worked in a mill after leaving school (Clackers Lane Elementary and Senior Schools), and worked in a munitions factory in the Second World War. After the war she became a schools meals assistant. After helping Maggie at the Corner Shop, she took the job at the Rovers, where she worked under Annie Walker and with Bet Lynch, who would become her close friend. While most characters simply referred to her as Betty, her former boss Annie Walker would be the only one to refer to her as Elizabeth (possibly to distinguish her from Bet Lynch). Arrival Betty first appeared offering to help her sister Maggie Clegg run the Corner Shop, and moving into the shop flat with her husband Cyril. Maggie greatly resented her bossy older sister trying to run her life and she quickly took advantage of Annie's holiday in Majorca (as winner of the perfect Landlady competition) by persuading Jack Walker to give Betty a barmaid's job at The Rovers. Very soon there was friction between no-nonsense Betty and Annie with her airs-and-graces, and by Christmas 1969, Betty was sacked. She immediately got a job at the Flying Horse, and only returned to The Rovers after wringing an apology out of Annie. History Betty Turpin's history includes an illegitimate son (Gordon Clegg), marriage to police officer Cyril Turpin (which ended with his death in 1974), and a second marriage to her wartime sweetheart, Billy Williams, which also ended in widowhood for Betty. She is also famous for her hotpots, which came under scrutiny in the early 1990s when it was believed that they were contaminated. In May 1970, Cyril returned home to the flat to find Betty being terrorised by ex-convict Keith Lucas (Cyril was his arresting officer), and furious at this, attacked Lucas with an iron bar, narrowly avoiding killing him. Cyril was hauled before a disciplinary committee, and the next month he was retired from the force on a full pension, and he and Betty moved into 37 Hillside Crescent. In December 1970, Bet Lynch became junior barmaid at The Rovers, and from then on Betty became Elizabeth to Annie, so she could differentiate the two barmaids. 1974 was a bad year for Betty. In February, Cyril died of a heart attack, leaving Betty devastated, and in July her sister Maggie married Ron Cooke and emigrated to Zaire. Maggie's 'son' Gordon came back from his accountancy job in London to look after the shop, and stayed with his aunt, but after finding him literally with his trousers round his ankles with a local girl, Betty ordered him back to London, and the shop was rented out to the Hopkins. In December, Megan Hopkins was moving some furniture in the flat when she came across a birth certificate - Gordon Clegg's. He was born "Gordon Preston"; his mother was "Elizabeth Preston", his father unknown. After a little research she found that Elizabeth Preston was now Betty Turpin. When Maggie and Betty found out, they told Gordon his dark secret. Betty, his real mother, had an affair with a married sailor during the war, and the resulting baby was adopted by Betty's sister Maggie and her husband Les Clegg. In February 1975 Megan Hopkins tried to blackmail Gordon with the information, in an attempt to buy the shop at a reduced price, but they were summarily evicted. Things started a little better in 1975 as Betty won Newton & Ridley's 'Personality of the Pub' competition in March, but a drunken Gordon revealed his true mother in November, and for a while Betty found it hard to face The Rovers' regulars. In August 1977, Betty again stormed out of The Rovers when Annie accused her of stealing £45, and suggested she consult a psychiatrist about her 'problem'. Betty was on the verge of taking the case to court when she was finally persuaded to return to the pub. Apart from being proposed to by potman Fred Gee (whom she turned down immediately), Betty then had a quiet time, serving in The Rovers. In January 1982, Gordon returned to show his mother his fiancée Caroline Wilson, but upset his mother by marrying without inviting her to the wedding. In May 1982, Betty was mugged by Raymond Attwood from Ken Barlow's Youth club at the Community Centre, and ended up in hospital with a broken arm. An old flame of Betty's, Ted Farrell saw a newspaper article about the attack and paid her a visit. As far as Ted was concerned, they had been close, but when he moved down to Portsmouth and married a local girl that was the end of their friendship. What Ted didn't know was that after Betty said goodbye to him in 1947 at London Road Station in Manchester, she found she was pregnant with Gordon. She couldn't contact him, and in the end she told nobody about Gondon's father, not even Cyril or Gordon himself. When she met Ted after all those years she agonised whether to tell him the truth, but felt it better not to stir up the past, and Betty and Ted parted with him thinking they were always "just sweethearts". In May 1983 Betty acted as Bet's chaperone when they went out for a day with Fred Gee - and ended up paddling in the lake at Tatton Park as Fred's Rover 2000 (bought off Annie Walker) ended up in the lake. The Rovers staff finally arrived back late to find the pub in chaos, as prophetically, Vera Duckworth was behind the bar, helping out. 1985 dawned with a new boss for Betty - Bet Lynch, and in March the arrival of her grandson Peter. The following year Betty spent a few months in London with Gordon, Caroline and Peter, when The Rovers was being refurbished. Sometime between now and the 1990's, Betty moved houses just down the road to No.22 Hillside Crescent. In January 1989, Bet's husband - Alec Gilroy - employed retired ventriloquist Charlie Bracewell as barman. He was quickly palmed off onto Stella Rigby at the White Swan when he tried to interfere with Betty. There was more heartache for Betty in 1992 when The Rovers was forced to stop selling food as its kitchen didn't meet Food & Hygiene standards. Over the years, The Rovers had become famous for Betty's hotpots, and latterly Betty had worked more in the kitchen than behind the bar. She was effectively redundant, and left The Rovers in tears. However, the Gilroys reluctantly agreed to refurbish the kitchen, and Betty returned. In 1994, Alf Roberts again became mayor of Weatherfield and as his wife Audrey was reluctant to take part in civic duties, asked Betty to be his mayoress. Betty was flattered and agreed - following in the footsteps of Annie Walker, who was Alf's mayoress in 1973. On 8th May 1995, 50 years to the day, two old soldiers returned to the pub they celebrated VE Night in - The Rovers Return. Betty was suprised to see one of them was an old flame - Billy Williams. A few days later, Billy invited Betty to a tea dance and confessed that he had often thought about her over the years and that he had often written to her too. Betty told Billy that she too had written to him but neither of them received each others letters because of the war. Billy also revealed that in one letter he had proposed marriage. Betty turned down Billy's proposal, together with an offer to go on holiday together, but called on Billy when she was burgled in September 1995. Billy stayed the night, and arranged for a burglar alarm to be fitted, and then proposed marriage again, or even simply living together, both of which Betty refused. However, next month she relented, and later in October 1995 they were married. At the end of October, Jack and Vera Duckworth became the new owners of The Rovers Return, and when she returned from honeymoon, Betty was very suprised to find out who her new bosses were. It only took a few days for Betty to walk out of The Rovers yet again - this time because Vera asked her to become a cleaner as well as barmaid and cook the hotpots. Vera started with her own hotpot, but soon had to turn to Fred Elliott for supplies. Again, the licencee of The Rovers had to go round to Betty and apologise before she would consider coming back. In December 1995, Alf and Audrey Roberts travelled down to Buckingham Palace for Alf's OBE. Audrey had a blazing row with taxi driver Don Brennan, resulting in Audrey being left at a motorway service station, and Alf travelling on alone. As he was being driven down the Mall, who should Alf see but Betty - who just happened to be down in London for the day, and so Alf was accompanied by his former mayoress when he received his OBE - much to Audrey's annoyance! She was cleared of all wrongdoing when it was discovered that beer, not food, was responsible for a spate of stomach upsets. In 1999 Betty celebrated 30 years of working at the Rovers Return with a party, attended by all the regulars. Betty considered retirement in 2002 and decided to move to Wimbledon to be with Gordon and his wife Caroline, but while she was visiting them she had a feeling Caroline didn't want her and would rather have her put in an old people's home. Betty discussed her fears with Emily Bishop who told her she would be better off staying in Weatherfield and at the Rovers. In 2009, while Rovers manageress Liz McDonald was in Spain, her mate Poppy Morales saw herself as being in charge. She resented Betty for only working a certain amount of hours and for only doing what she felt like doing. Poppy attempted to fire Betty, but owner Steve McDonald saw Betty's service as more invaluable, and Poppy got the chop. In 2010, Betty celebrated her 90th birthday and was featured in a newspaper article as the oldest barmaid in the North West. Family and Friends A lot of Betty's friends have passed away or left the street now, although she is popular with most of the customers in The Rovers Return. Here are some of Betty's friends, Past and Present-: Bet Lynch, Annie Walker, Jack Walker, Rita Sullivan, Len Fairclough, Alf Roberts, Renee Roberts, Emily Bishop, Ernest Bishop, Hilda Ogden, Blanche Hunt, Fred Gee, Liz McDonald, Elsie Tanner, Ena Sharples, Jack Duckworth, Vera Duckworth, Ken Barlow, Fred Elliott, Raquel Watts, Maud Grimes Miscellaneous information *Betty is more of a secondary character nowaday, and no longer is at the centre of storylines, although she is often at the heart of The Rovers Return. *In 1978, Betty was a model for Newton & Ridley magazine as she appeared on the front cover. *Between February and August 2010, Betty was absent due to Betty Driver dealing with a bit of poor health (she did manage to tape scenes for two episodes in May 2010). Upon her return in August, Driver said she would never quit Coronation Street because she would die of boredom without it. Quotes "So this is your famous corner shop." (First Line to her sister Maggie Clegg) Category:Coronation Street characters Category:Current characters Category:Rovers barmaids Category:1995 marriages Category:1920 births Category:1969 debuts